Seeming sometimes more like science fiction than science, anaerobic bacteria have been at the center of a number of exciting new discoveries. This volume discusses and explains the diversity of metabolism, modes of protein transport, molecular biology and physiology of these unusual microbes. It has practical applications ranging from wastewater treatment to clinical diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions.
Bacterial Physiology and Biochemistry provides the most current, authoritative, and relevant presentation of bacterial physiology and biochemistry on subject, chemical composition and functional bacterial cell structure, nutrition and growth, the process of cell differentiation, metabolism and the influence of environmental factors. The book helps the reader learn and obtain modern knowledges on bacterial physiology and biochemistry, including chemical composition and functional cell structures, bacterial nutrition and growth, and the processes of cell differentiation, bacterial metabolism and microbial growth in nature, and the effect of environmental factors on bacterial cells. This book is an educational resource designed for use in advanced bachelor's and master's courses in biology, including microbiology, biochemistry and molecular biology. It contains curriculum taught to biology students specializing in microbiology. Contains modern original color illustrations of biochemical and metabolic processes Provides condensed knowledge on microbiology, microbial kinetics and microbial physiology Includes easy-to-find information on key metabolic pathways in aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms
Microbial physiology, biochemistry, and genetics allowed the formulation of concepts that turned out to be important in the study of higher organisms. In the first section, the principles of bacterial growth are given, as well as the description of the different layers that enclose the bacterial cytoplasm, and their role in obtaining nutrients from the outside media through different permeability mechanism described in detail. A chapter is devoted to allostery and is indispensable for the comprehension of many regulatory mechanisms described throughout the book. Another section analyses the mechanisms by which cells obtain the energy necessary for their growth, glycolysis, the pentose phosphate pathway, the tricarboxylic and the anaplerotic cycles. Two chapters are devoted to classes of microorganisms rarely dealt with in textbooks, namely the Archaea, mainly the methanogenic bacteria, and the methylotrophs. Eight chapters describe the principles of the regulations at the transcriptional level, with the necessary knowledge of the machineries of transcription and translation. The next fifteen chapters deal with the biosynthesis of the cell building blocks, amino acids, purine and pyrimidine nucleotides and deoxynucleotides, water-soluble vitamins and coenzymes, isoprene and tetrapyrrole derivatives and vitamin B12. The two last chapters are devoted to the study of protein-DNA interactions and to the evolution of biosynthetic pathways. The considerable advances made in the last thirty years in the field by the introduction of gene cloning and sequencing and by the exponential development of physical methods such as X-ray crystallography or nuclear magnetic resonance have helped presenting metabolism under a multidisciplinary attractive angle. The level of readership presupposes some knowledge of chemistry and genetics at the undergraduate level. The target group is graduate students, researchers in Academia and industry.
How small can a free-living organism be? On the surface, this question is straightforward-in principle, the smallest cells can be identified and measured. But understanding what factors determine this lower limit, and addressing the host of other questions that follow on from this knowledge, require a fundamental understanding of the chemistry and ecology of cellular life. The recent report of evidence for life in a martian meteorite and the prospect of searching for biological signatures in intelligently chosen samples from Mars and elsewhere bring a new immediacy to such questions. How do we recognize the morphological or chemical remnants of life in rocks deposited 4 billion years ago on another planet? Are the empirical limits on cell size identified by observation on Earth applicable to life wherever it may occur, or is minimum size a function of the particular chemistry of an individual planetary surface? These questions formed the focus of a workshop on the size limits of very small organisms, organized by the Steering .Group for the Workshop on Size Limits of Very Small Microorganisms and held on October 22 and 23, 1998. Eighteen invited panelists, representing fields ranging from cell biology and molecular genetics to paleontology and mineralogy, joined with an almost equal number of other participants in a wide-ranging exploration of minimum cell size and the challenge of interpreting micro- and nano-scale features of sedimentary rocks found on Earth or elsewhere in the solar system. This document contains the proceedings of that workshop. It includes position papers presented by the individual panelists, arranged by panel, along with a summary, for each of the four sessions, of extensive roundtable discussions that involved the panelists as well as other workshop participants.
Bacterial Physiology and Metabolism focuses on research on bacteria, as well as metabolism of carbohydrates, fermentation, and oxidation of acids. The book first offers information on nutrition and growth of bacterial cultures, including requirements for growth, nutritional classification of bacteria, measurement of bacterial growth, and synchronous growth of bacterial cultures. The manuscript then considers the chemical composition of bacteria, oligosaccharide catabolism, and transport of sugars. The publication takes a look at the fermentation of sugars and aerobic metabolism of carbohydrates. Discussions focus on Embden-Meyerhof fermentations, miscellaneous pathways, and hexose, pentose, polyol, and hexuronic acid oxidation. The text also elaborates on oxidation of organic acids, electron transport, oxidation of hydrocarbons, and protein and amino acid catabolism. The text is a dependable reference for readers interested in bacterial physiology and metabolism.
Seeming sometimes more like science fiction than science, anaerobic bacteria have been at the center of a number of exciting new discoveries. This volume discusses and explains the diversity of metabolism, modes of protein transport, molecular biology and physiology of these unusual microbes. It has practical applications ranging from wastewater treatment to clinical diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions.
V.1. Growth phases, composition, and Biophysical chemistry of bacteria and their environment; and energetics. - v.2. Effects of environment upon Microorganisms Physiology and biochemistry ...
Bacterial Physiology focuses on the physiology and chemistry of microorganisms and the value of bacterial physiology in the other fields of biology. The selection first underscores the chemistry and structure of bacterial cells, including the chemical composition of cells, direct and indirect methods of cytology, vegetative multiplication, spores of bacteria, and cell structure. The text then elaborates on inheritance, variation, and adaptation and growth of bacteria. The publication reviews the physical and chemical factors affecting growth and death. Topics include hydrogen ion concentration and osmotic pressure; surface and other forces determining the distribution of bacteria in their environment; dynamics of disinfection and bacteriostasis; bacterial resistance; and types of antibacterial agents. The text also ponders on the anaerobic dissimilation of carbohydrates, bacterial oxidations, and autotrophic assimilation of carbon dioxide. The selection is a dependable reference for readers interested in bacterial physiology.
